A Birmingham motorist has been ordered to pay a cyclist £25 in compensation after pleading guilty to a public order offence following a road rage incident last August, which was filmed on the rider’s helmet camera.
The news comes less than a fortnight after we reported on the conviction of a London driver who had verbally threatened cycling lawyer Martin Porter in an incident similarly captured on film.
The Birmingham Mail reports that 38-year old IT consultant Rob Styles was cycling home from work along Pershore Road, Stirchley, when the incident occurred at 6.25pm on the evening of 25 August.
As the camera footage shows, a car pulled up alongside him, halting on the pavement, with the driver, 55-year-old Robert Johnson from Selly Oak.
He then getting out and unleashing a tirade peppered with four letter words at Mr Styles, asking him, “Do you want a f*cking fight?”
Mr Styles subsequently uploaded the video to YouTube.
The motorist pleaded guilty to a public order offence at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, and besides being ordered to pay Mr Styles £25 compensation, was also ordered to pay £105 costs.
Mr Styles said: “Cyclists have a right to be on the road. It was pretty scary, I thought I was going to get hit.”
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
36 thoughts on “Birmingham road rage driver ordered to pay £25 compensation after helmet cam conviction”
The guy in front’s saddle was
The guy in front’s saddle was too low.
Colin Lynch wrote:The guy in
Yeah, and his legs are too tattoo’d, too.
PR.
25 quid compensation? That
25 quid compensation? That sort of abuse is enough to put people off cycling for good which would really impair their quality of life – I’d say that called for a lot more than £25 which is about a third of a tank of petrol.
Hah, look how uncomfortable
Hah, look how uncomfortable the idiot’s Son is in the passenger seat. Priceless.
Well, £25 actually.
Can’t help feeling he
Can’t help feeling he wouldn’t have been so keen to ask the rider in front if he wanted a “f*cking fight?”
tony_farrelly wrote:Can’t
Yes, Tony, I had the same thought….might be an idea to form a regular two-up on the daily commute, with whoever’s willing, which I imagine would limit abuse from drivers quite considerably…
P.R.
the tattoos looked very
the tattoos looked very new.not sure i like them much. Certainly distinctive.
hey anyone looked at youtube mmmmmrob
anyone agree with me this is giving us a bad name.
spud22 wrote:the tattoos
What has tattoo’s got to do with anything ?
looked at youtube, could only find one clip from mmmmmrob and it didn’t seem to bad unless i’m missing something 😕
you nned to go onto google
you nned to go onto google then mmmmmrob ..theres about 8 videos, a poor council worker gets a good viewing
spud22 wrote:the tattoos
A) the tattoos looked re-inked to me, not new. Looks like team tats.
B) No I dont agree this is giving us a bad light. He’s reacting to a stressful situation, not entirely knowing what exactly is going to happen. In that situation you want to stop people in their tracks and if it makes this driver refrain from giving him a smack then fair enough.
Even if the rider took to the streets with his bits hanging out and set fire to schools with a maniacal cackle it wouldnt put US in a bad light because we all stand as individuals in society with individual responsibilities to a given circumstance, and leading to individual consequence should it go wrong or we lead it to be.
On reflection, £25 is quite
On reflection, £25 is quite steep when you consider that the driver has to look in the mirror and see his own fat, plethoric, hypertensive, miserable bowling ball with fluff on top face everyday of his tiresome and futile existence.
At least he has been made to look like a bell-end on the world wide web.
What on earth was Mr Angry on
What on earth was Mr Angry on about? So far as I can see the cyclists were riding by the book.
And a piddling £25 fine for threatening someone? A short spell in chokey could be more effective in calming him down.
You’d get more for a stushie
You’d get more for a stushie outside your local on Saturday night
Pathetic
as far as I can see
as far as I can see prosecution could have been under either of two sections of the Public Order Act:
Harassment, alarm or distress (disorderly conduct) section 5, maximum sentence of a fine of £1,000
Fear of violence section 4, maximum of six months imprisonment and/or a fine not exceeding £5,000
so as the driver had to pay compensation and not a fine did he escape a criminal conviction? – i read that as the evidence was compelling and court will have to do something…but would rather have done nothing?
Surely guilty of section 4
Surely guilty of section 4 public order offence for fear of violence? £25 fine plus £105 costs seems rather paltry?
Oh Dear…. The guy in front
Oh Dear…. The guy in front Love Him….
Would be great to see Love and Peace on the roads, One day..
Cyclist shouldn’t have to go around wearing Helmet cams, they should feel just as safe on the rods as Motorist do, besides Most cyclist I know, are car owners anyway..
There was no need for that at all…
£25 is surely a pisstake. I
£25 is surely a pisstake. I hope at the very least he will have a record now and that if he takes that “line” with anyone else that he’ll get a more severe punishment.
This is the kind of thing that puts people off riding the bike… as already said.
looking at the video, thought
looking at the video, thought id take a look at this persons other links.
I have to say that the person that has posted this although has got justice, i cant help feeling hes putting the name of us cyclist in a badlight. refering to you tube
mmmmmrob search this as interesting.
I certainly am not a cyclist like this, and wish not to be,
Am I missing smething, but I
Am I missing smething, but I cannot see any link between the cycling and the abuse scenes..??
It sems to be 3 bits of video cut and pasted together.
davebinks wrote:Am I missing
Doesnt look like that to me. Are you sure you’re not confused by his head whipping around fast..?
I aggree davebinks, im
I aggree davebinks, im struggling to see this and agree video is missing something, something not quite right,
especially since looking at youtube mmmmmrob, seems hes enjoying what hes doing.
google youtube mmmmmrob, there are about 8 other vids involvng this cyclist.
ps… just found out cyclistis is an It, media, photagraph, film geek…now it stinks
spud22 wrote:I aggree
It seems all of your posts have been on this story. To me that says something stinks with YOUR approach to this story.
I would suggest you stop trolling here to provoke reaction.
i have commented due to the
i have commented due to the interest this a has shown, Im not looking to provoke, only hightlight what ive seen via the you tube.
If all us cyclists did what this man does – no wonder we get bad press.
To be honest im not bothered about this story, more angered by mmmmmrob posting such stuff making us out to be
looking for stuff to happen.
Most motorists i see are great, some are idiots some perfect.
They probably think the same about us.
and no i wont stop,my view is as improtant as anyone elses.
YOUTUBE :mmmmmrob
I am both a cyclist and motorist, always different views
spud22 wrote:i have commented
So you are trolling then.
I watched all the guys videos. He only has about 7 that are cycling related. About 2 were extremely close passes, 2-3 were drivers pulling out at the last minute nearly taking his front wheel from him.
And you, in some kind of really odd fantasy world that only you inhabit, suggest he’s giving us a bad name by documenting it.
Grow up.
i rest my case.
ive said
i rest my case.
ive said what i think. you say what you think.
Everyone can make their own minds up.
ps you grow up!!
spud22 wrote:i rest my case.
you’re supposed to do that after you’ve offered some evidence. that’s what a ‘case’ is 😕
Are you by any chance Robert
Are you by any chance Robert Johnson?
I’m sorry Spud22 but what
I’m sorry Spud22 but what exactly are you getting at?
You seem to be stirring the pot with quite some intent!
Hi, thanks for all the
Hi, thanks for all the supportive comments 🙂
What the report in the Birmingham Mail missed, and this missed as a result I guess, is that the driver was also given a two week ban. That is, his driving license was suspended for two weeks from the court date.
My videos aren’t hidden or anything, you can find them all at http://www.youtube.com/mmmmmrob
I never set out to go to court, the videos I post are just the odd snippet if unusually bad driving in and around Brum. London Cyclists have it far worse from what I can see. In this case I posted the video online and a police cyclist actually asked me to report it through official channels.
Helmet cams are cheap and the evidence they record can keep you safe (or hurt you if you run red lights etc!) so may be worth buying. Up to you. How we ride is our own indidividual choice.
Stay safe 🙂
mmmmmrob
(the same mmmmmrob as on youTube)
what kit are you using
what kit are you using mmmmmmmmrob?
If you search Amazon for
If you search Amazon for Micro DV you’ll find a handful of little cameras. Mine is the Mini Sports DV from seller Jazooli. Currently £14.34. You also need a decent size micro sd card. I have a 16Gb one on mine, about £10.
Downside of these cheap cameras:
* They sometimes turn themselves off for no apparent reason
* Battery life isn’t brilliant, 40-60 minutes
* You have to work out a helmet mount yourself
Upside:
* Cheap
* Great video quality for price
rob
mmmmmrob wrote:If you search
i have one of those too, branded F&H from ebuyer. it’s pretty decent for the money, and light enough that you can just jam it into one of the vents on your helmet, if you have one the right width
Good points Rob – the guy got
Good points Rob – the guy got a fine he deserved – wonder if it’ll change his behaviour tho?
Trouble is when a motorist
Trouble is when a motorist picks on the wrong cyclist and gets decked the papers will be full of “Psycho Cyclist assaults innocent driver”……
I had similar from 7dayshop-
I had similar from 7dayshop- lasted 3 months before expiring & was pretty unreliable. Had it zip-tied to helmet & caught one incident (WVM spoken to by appointed PC). Full refund & now looking at getting a Contour Roam for better detail & reliability.
Thanks for info on helmet
Thanks for info on helmet cameras ! Where do i look for ” Contour Roam ” please email info skippi@ausi.com
Regarding the subject “Magistrate ” relies on CPS to provide the case ? Agree that Sec 4 should have been used and £1000 and lengthy prison sentence and driving ban would have sent a far more powerful message ! the galah probably spends more on a NIGHT OUT !